Introduction

1.1 What This Manual Covers

This manual provides complete technical documentation of Pepper.SFX. By the end, you’ll understand:

• System Architecture - How everything fits together
• Component Deep-Dives - Every class, method, and property explained
• Design Patterns - Industry-standard audio middleware concepts
• Performance Optimization - Voice management, LOD, virtualization
• Best Practices - Proven patterns from professional audio design
• Troubleshooting - Solutions to common problems

1.2 Prerequisites

Before reading this manual, you should:

• Have basic Unity knowledge (GameObjects, Components, Scripts)
• Understand audio concepts (dB, Hz, spatialization)
• Have read QUICK_START.md and successfully played a sound
• Know basic C# programming

1.3 How to Use This Manual

This manual is dense by design — every chapter has to serve three different readers:

• 🏃 Skimmer: Read each chapter’s intro paragraph and the §X.1 (“Why…”) subsection. That builds a map. Come back for details when you actually need them.
• 📖 Learner: Read chapters 1–6 in order to build a complete mental model, then read the subsystem chapters (13, 14, 15) as you adopt those features.
• 🔍 Reference reader: Jump to the section whose title matches your question. Use the Table of Contents at the top.

For Troubleshooting: Skip to Section 12 for common issues and diagnoses.

⚠️ Spatial audio (Occlusion, Reverb Sends, container Propagation) shares one piece of infrastructure: the Occlusion Slot Pool (Chapter 14). If you plan to use any of these features, author the slot pool first or none of them will work. The Cookbook’s spatial-audio prerequisite callout explains why.

1.4 Companion Documents

• QUICK_START.md - Get running in 10 minutes
• COOKBOOK.md - Step-by-step recipes for common tasks
• API_REFERENCE.md - Complete API documentation